MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. -- Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Fredric D. Bright this morning announced that he had completed his review of the investigation into a sexual assault accusation against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, and will announce his decision on whether to file charges Monday afternoon.

"The investigation, interviews and report in the Roethlisberger matter have been completed and reviewed," Mr. Bright said in a statement.

"We will be announcing the decision in this case in a news conference to be held on Monday, April 12, 2010, at 2 p.m. in the Baldwin County Courthouse."

Mr. Bright declined further comment.

Milledgeville police Chief Woodrow W. Blue Jr. and representatives of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation early this week concluded their monthlong investigation into the accusation made by a 20-year-old woman who said Mr. Roethlisberger assaulted her in a nightclub. Mr. Roethlisberger has denied the allegation through his Atlanta-based attorneys.

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"Now that I'm here, I don't want to just be here, I want to be here for a long time." Hines Ward, 1998 4th round draft pick.

Is it election time in Georgia? Grandstand much, Mr. DA? So he's announced the announcement, nice. Wonder if Ben's a little edgy right about now?

I'd venture to guess that Ben and Garland have already been "told" whether charges will be filed.

IMO, if the DA was going to bring charges, they wouldn't issue a statement saying that they'll announce a decision on such-and-such date. They'd just fuckin' do it. By delaying the announcement, it gives them some face time with the public and affords them an opportunity to explain how "they've conducted a thorough investigation, but the evidence is not sufficient to justify the filing of a formal charge" or some such shit.

I think.

For everyone's sake, let's hope I'm better at predicting the outcome here than I am at picking NFL games.

Is it election time in Georgia? Grandstand much, Mr. DA? So he's announced the announcement, nice. Wonder if Ben's a little edgy right about now?

I'd venture to guess that Ben and Garland have already been "told" whether charges will be filed.

IMO, if the DA was going to bring charges, they wouldn't issue a statement saying that they'll announce a decision on such-and-such date. They'd just fuckin' do it. By delaying the announcement, it gives them some face time with the public and affords them an opportunity to explain how "they've conducted a thorough investigation, but the evidence is not sufficient to justify the filing of a formal charge" or some such shit.

I think.

For everyone's sake, let's hope I'm better at predicting the outcome here than I am at picking NFL games.

Yeah, maybe so.

Or maybe they want the full CNN/Faux/MSNBC/ESPN/NPR/Tass/TMZ/etc. entourage there to ensure the DA gets his national face time.

"Had they wanted to arrest Roethlisberger, they would've issued a warrant, not waited for a press conference on Monday," said B.J. Bernstein of Atlanta, one of the nation's most high-profile defense attorneys.

"If they had wanted to send this matter to a grand jury, which is a closed process, they would not have a public press conference to do that," Bernstein said. "Most likely, what we're seeing here is that the district attorney has chosen to drop the matter."

Baldwin County court staff said the district attorney's office did not request a special grand jury be impaneled. The next scheduled round of subpoenas for a July grand jury won't go out until late June.

Is it election time in Georgia? Grandstand much, Mr. DA? So he's announced the announcement, nice. Wonder if Ben's a little edgy right about now?

I'd venture to guess that Ben and Garland have already been "told" whether charges will be filed.

IMO, if the DA was going to bring charges, they wouldn't issue a statement saying that they'll announce a decision on such-and-such date. They'd just fuckin' do it. By delaying the announcement, it gives them some face time with the public and affords them an opportunity to explain how "they've conducted a thorough investigation, but the evidence is not sufficient to justify the filing of a formal charge" or some such shit.

I think.

For everyone's sake, let's hope I'm better at predicting the outcome here than I am at picking NFL games.

Yeah, maybe so.

Or maybe they want the full CNN/Faux/MSNBC/ESPN/NPR/Tass/TMZ/etc. entourage there to ensure the DA gets his national face time.

For erection porpoise, as Engrish might slay.

Hmmm. My worry is that the DA does want the publicity. Since I'm paranoid, I worry that the DA would've announced dropping charges on a Friday. PR dictates delivering potentially bad news like this prior to the weekend, to stave off negative press coverage. (in Georgia, I'm guessing some people want blood). By saying that they are announcing it on a Monday, it would seem to allow the media a full court press on the topic, which one would expect if the DA wanted to try a case in the court of public opinion.

Still, I hope JCharding's defense attorney is correct.

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"Dreith said I hit Sipe too hard. I hit him as hard as I could. Brian has a chance to go out of bounds and he decides not to. He knows I'm going to hit him. And I do. History."- - - Jack Lambert, after referee Ben Dreith ejected him from a game for knocking out Browns QB Brian Sipe.